Stratton Jimmer

I had a tyre band failure on my old Land Rover Series 2A and the description given for this fault matches exactly what I had. My boss was driving behind me and flashed me to pull over. He pointed it out as it was plainly visible from behind while all I had was the noise and imbalance.

I picked one of these up from a stall at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway's vintage weekend for £7.

Steps as described in Haynes: 1. Disconnect battery earth. 2. Remove driver's side parcel shelf. 3. Unscrew and remove column-to-flexible coupling pinch bolt. 4. Remove nuts and spring washers from column forward retaining bracket. 5. Remove the forward support housing and felt liner. 6. Detach the horn, indicator and light wire connectors AND the ignition wiring plug to the steering lock. 7. Unscrew and remove the two cap screws which retain the column rear bracket. Withdraw the clamp halves and upper screwed plate. 8. Withdraw the column complete with the tie bar.

Haynes says that the steering column has to be removed first. It then suggests that it may be possible to remove the shear bolts by using a suitable small chisel and tapping them round. Then it says that if that method fails, drill into the heads and use a stud extractor.

I never had any cooling problems with my Vitesse back in 1976 which was a really hot summer. Here's a photo showing the spots as fitted. That's great aunt Florence Angelley sat in the passenger seat.

Aircraft fuel tanks are particularly prone to bacterial contamination and in order to prevent this, radioactive 'slugs' are mounted in the tanks.

Craig and I have opted to postpone for one week and so our next meeting is now at Devizes on Saturday the 18th. All other details are as first posted.

Giving due consideration to the prevailing weather and the high levels of salt that are being deposited on the roads at the moment. We are in discussions about postponing this meeting until later in the month. I will update the forum as soon as we have reached a decision. Unless advised otherwise, do not turn up on Saturday!

John is absolutely right but beware of overheating the copper. If you take it above 900 F (480 C) it can become brittle and be prone to fracturing. ( I did listen to my lecturer in metallurgy whilst at college in the 70s.)

£6 per half metre plus p&p. I bought some from a local merchants only this week (Swindon Car and Truck) for £9 per metre with zero p&p. It pays to shop around.

As a first and easy check, I would swap the sooty plug with number 1 and see if the swapped plug soots up and the formerly sooty plug turns clean. Then go for a compression test.

Following suggestions at recent meets, it was agreed that instead of having our usual March meeting at The Foxham on Tuesday 14th, we would instead get the cars out and have a breakfast meet on Saturday 11th March. In consequence, if anyone wishes to join us, we are meeting at the Silk Mercer (A Wetherspoons pub) for breakfast at 10:00. The address is St John's Street, Devizes. The Central car park is located a short walk away at Maryport Street. Details are in the March edition of the Courier but the date is wrong. It is on the 11th not the 10th. (Thanks Sarah!)

I use Super E5 in both of my 2L cars. Both have valve seats changed for unleaded although many folk will tell you that it isn't necessary on cars running relatively limited mileages. I have used E10 when I couldn't get E5 and the car ran reasonably well but lacked a bit of oomph.

My GT6 which has a Triumph Tune engine has HS4s. Frankly, they are a pain in the £&*! and the choke linkages are someone's idea of a joke. It is as though the SU designers having made a device to semi-control a drip of fuel into an engine suddenly realise they have forgotten to include a choke. Luckily there was a box of old knitting needles lying around so they bent a few and bodged a mechanism to pull them up and down. Get a pair of Strombergs and ditch the SUs. If anyone wants to buy a pair of HS6's with adaptor flanges - I have some!

So pleased that your initial problems are behind you TC1. You have a lovely set of cars there so keep us all informed of your progress and how things are going generally. Welcome to the nuthouse!

Plus 1 for the rule of 13. (Apart from when working on four cylinder engines that is!)

My sixfire (1500 Spit with straight six 2l engine) has 175/13s and a 14inch Motolita which is OK. My GT6 has 165/13s and a 13 inch Mountney which is very heavy on the steering. I plan to change that for a 14 inch... So if anyone has a 14 inch Mountney and wants to swap it for a 13 inch one, give me ring!

Just finished the offside. I'm going to the TSSC North Wilts meet tonight so I'm leaving the adjustment and bleeding for another day. The handbrake attachment was quite tight on this side compared to the nearside so that needs looking at too.

I make my own from gasket paper but use blue hylomar to ensure the seal.

The workshop runs on tea and chocolate digestives!

Well, I went to the Agricultural show yesterday and there were lots of agricultural vehicles on display all bearing the MG brand. Anyway, I bagged a pair of NOS GWC1110 brake cylinders for a tenner and a set of NOS brake shoes for twenty quid. I did the nearside this afternoon and plan on doing the offside tomorrow after which it will be bleeding time.

The Sixfire took me to the Magic Roundabout where we were pictured:

I took the Sixfire down to the Magic Roundabout and snapped it. Rye has replied liking the photograph.

My choke is on the front carb CDSE with front being nearest the radiator.

I had heard that 123s can be very temperamental if their supply voltage fluctuates. Was the battery fully charged at the time of the fault? I'm no expert but it is a thought that occurs to me.